Equals
by Planet Mads
Summary: Roy/Kaldur. The truth is out and Roy and Kaldur have to talk.


Title: Equals.

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.

Rating: T.

Prompt: Credit from Kaldur week on Tumblr.

Notes: Spoilers for up to Satisfaction.

Summary: Roy/Kaldur. The truth is out and Roy and Kaldur have to talk.

* * *

"He won't come." Kaldur whispers as Artemis tucks the crisp white sheets around him. "Roy ended our relationship and started up with your sister of all people. He will not wish to see me."

"They're divorced now." Artemis says softly, wincing as she sits down on the edge of his bed. Out of the two of them he had come out with the worst injuries when they had finally made their move to take the Light down from the inside out. However, she was still fairly badly injured and shouldn't really be walking but separating them had proven disastrous. They had been together on that submarine for so long that they only really felt safe around each other.

When the League had first separated them to tend to their different injuries they had both had panic attacks and had to be sedated in case they caused themselves even more harm. It's apparently some form of post-traumatic stress disorder according to Batman which they will get over. But not quickly enough for either of them. The moment Artemis had woken up she had hobbled into his room and refused to leave.

"Besides," Artemis says as she lifts her legs up to rest them on the chair beside his bed, "you were always his best friend. Trust me, even when he thought you were working with your father he thought you could be saved."

Kaldur shrugs his shoulders as best he can when half his body is bandaged up. Artemis positively scowls at him.

"Just ring him." The blonde snaps, pressing her communicator into his bandaged hand. "Or else I'll let Bart in to see you. He hero-worships you for what you did, you know. He won't shut up about how much he adores you."

Kaldur gives her a wounded look which she completely ignores in favour of picking at the edges of the bandage around her arm. Kaldur doesn't really know Bart but apparently his grandmother told him stories about Kaldur and how big a hero he was for going undercover so the speedster's been nothing but ecstatic to finally have Kaldur 'back where he belongs' as he put it. And while Kaldur finds it very flattering, he doesn't think he can handle that much talking in the state he's in. Sighing, he holds the communicator up to his ear.

"Calling Red Arrow." He says, there's a brief whirring noise as he's connected to the man's communicator and then Red Arrow's talking _at_ him.

"Artemis, if you're calling to complain about me not bringing Lian to meet you then it's just gonna have to wait. I'm a bit busy, right now and – "

Kaldur clears his throat and says, "Actually Red Arrow. It's Kaldur, I – "

"Fuck." The redhead exclaims and there's the sound of something shattering on the other end and a baby's cry. "Kal. You're awake. No one told me."

Considering he only woke up twenty minutes ago that's not exactly surprising but Kaldur doesn't think that voicing that opinion will endear Roy to him so he keeps quiet on the subject.

"Artemis suggested that I ring and inform you that I was awake. She – "

"Was for once totally right." Red Arrow finishes for him, though that had not been what Kaldur had been intending to say in the slightest. "You stay awake, okay? I'll be right there."

The line goes dead.

Kaldur blinks in surprise and looks at Artemis, who is smiling far too smugly for Kaldur's comfort.

It takes Red Arrow an hour and half to get to the League medical bay. To his credit he comes with brownies (Kaldur's favourite surface-dweller food) and Lian. The fact that he brought his daughter is most important than him bringing Kaldur's favourite snack. After everything that has happened Kaldur didn't think that Roy would let his daughter be in the same building as Kaldur, let alone the same room but here she is. So the fact that he has been waiting for an hour and a half and spent twenty-five minutes of that persuading Batman to give him coffee in order to stay awake for when Roy eventually arrived is all completely forgiven.

"She is adorable." Kaldur says, as the little girl wriggles in Roy's arms – stretching out her chubby baby hands towards Kaldur in fascination. The blond squirms in his bed, unsure whether or not he should take her from Roy like she clearly wants. Artemis had informed him about Lian, Roy's divorce and the fact that Roy now has full custody (something about Jade not wanting the many enemies she's made during her career finding out about Lian and trying to exploit her.) Artemis had, in fact, informed him about everything Roy's done since Kaldur left including his miraculous 180 in attitude when Lian came into his life. Kaldur has no idea how to interact with the strong, stable man in front of him. He's spent so many years being Roy's rock in the storm that he has no idea where he stands now that Roy doesn't need someone to lean on.

"Cutest kid in the whole damn World." Roy agrees, setting the brownies on his bedside table and placing Lian in Kaldur's lap.

Kaldur freezes as the little child immediately grabs one of his hands and starts poking the webbing between his fingers with curiosity. Roy has always been one to hold onto his grudges, Kaldur was not expecting Roy to be so forgiving that he would let Kaldur play with his daughter.

"She won't bite." Roy huffs as he drops into the chair Artemis left behind when Batman dragged her off to examine the leg she shouldn't have been walking on. Roy opens up the brownies and presses one to Kaldur's lips. It's a surprisingly intimate action from the man who ended their relationship. But he obediently bites into the brownie and stretches out a hand to catch the rest when it tumbles from his mouth anyway. Roy offers him an affectionate smile and looks pointedly at his waiting daughter. Nervously, Kaldur closes his webbed hand around Lian's tiny fist causing her to shriek in delight. Her free hand grabs his other hand and tugs it closer to herself until she can stick his fingers in her mouth. She starts chewing. So apparently Roy is wrong, she does bite. Kaldur can't bring himself to mind though.

"Roy," Kaldur whispers, staring down at the innocent child in his lap, "I don't understand why you're here."

Roy frowns. "Well, for starters to apologise. You've always been there for me. Even when I was a right bast – " Roy glances down at his kid and quickly switches to, "mean person to you."

Kaldur suppresses a snort of amusement at that.

"Even after I ended our relationship you took care of me." Roy continues, wincing as Kaldur plasters a neutral look onto his face at that – not willing to share his emotions, "And I didn't deserve the kind of devotion from you."

"You have always deserved it." Kaldur says, letting go of Lian so he can reach out to squeeze Roy's hand reassuringly. "You are a good person, you just got lost in the mission. Everyone loses their way at points."

"Right, lost." Roy huffs disbelievingly as Lian starts trying to reach for Kaldur's gills. The blonde winces as she manages to press on one of his wounds when she leans forward. Surprisingly, Roy notices (and when did the archer start being observant?) and quickly scoops her up into his arms. Lian makes a protesting noise and gives Roy a glower.

"No sweetie." He tells her, hovering her in front of his face so he can look her in the eye. "Kaldur is delicate." Lian's response to that is to smack his nose with her fist.

Kaldur laughs at the stunned and indignant look on Roy's face which is an error because it _hurts_ but he simply can't help himself.

"She has your charm." Kaldur says, wincing as he settles back down into his bed. He may have pulled some stitches laughing. "But I am not delicate."

"You are." Roy corrects, holding his daughter at arm's length so she can't hit him again. "And considering how you took care of me it's only fair that I help you through recovering from being, you know, an undercover agent."

Kaldur's hopes are quite promptly dashed against the ground. Not that he should really have hopes considering Roy married someone else but he can't stop his heart from wanting what it wants.

"I appreciate the gesture." Kaldur says quietly as Roy lowers his daughter back onto the bed again. This time she's perched beside Kaldur's hip and can just about reach up to run her fingers over his gills. He wonders, briefly, if he should tell Roy just how intimate an action doing that to an Atlantean is and decides not to. This conversation is going to get awkward enough as it is. "But I have the help I need here and you have Lian to take care of. I would not want to imposition you – "

"Look, Kal. You're not an imposition." Roy snaps, making his daughter pause in her exploration of Kaldur's gills. "I just want to help you get better."

"Because you feel you owe me a debt." Kaldur points out, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "I'd rather have no help at all then – "

"It's not 'cos I feel I owe you it's because I want you back, you idiot. You're it Kaldur, you're my One. The only person meant for me. And I want us to be together but that can only happen when you're better. So I'm gonna help you get better whether you want it or not." Roy snarls. Lian instantly starts whimpering at Roy's raised voice. The redhead winces and pulls her into his lap, gently stroking her hair as he mutters soothing words to her.

"You want to be with me?" Kaldur asks, genuinely confused. Roy had never expressed such loving sentiment even when they were together. Where is this coming from? "But you ended our relationship. You married Jade."

"I ended it because you said you didn't think Spe - Arsenal was alive." Roy grumbles, burying his face in Lian's hair. The little girl giggles and tries to reach up to pat her father's cheek. "Jade was the only one, besides me, who believed Arsenal was still alive which is how we ended up together."

"Roy I promised you that I would search for Speedy as long as you did." Kaldur says softly, "So even though I didn't believe he was still alive I didn't stop looking for him. Even when I went undercover I kept looking."

"I said you were the One." Roy grumbles, blushing. "Not that I was too stupid not to realise that sooner. Wally told me that you kept sending them leads on Speedy. He said I was an idiot for giving up on you because you had never given up on me. He's right, of course, but it took me almost loosing you to see it."

"Oh Roy." Kaldur whispers, feeling the beginnings of headache coming on. Only Roy could manage to make Kaldur feel like he was being tossed about in a storm just from having a conversation.

"Was that a yes to going out with me again when you're better?" Roy asks quietly, looking down at Lian rather than Kaldur. His nervousness is almost cute. Not that Kaldur would dare tell him that.

"Why can we only go out once I've recovered?" Kaldur asks softly.

"To prove to you that I can be a good guy." Roy mutters. "I was so dependent on you Kaldur and once you left I really feel apart." At Kaldur's look of disbelief Roy mutters, "Yeah, I know. I didn't think I could go much lower than I was either but I did the moment you left. Not that I blame you, our relationship was all screwed up because I was being such an idiot. You were more my caretaker than boyfriend and you kept being my caretaker even when I ended it. I don't want that to happen again. We're only going to be able to make this work if we're equals. So I want to help you get better as a friend _then_ start our relationship. Then we can rely on each other without being dependent on each other and our relationship won't get screwed up again. If you see what I mean."

"I see." Kaldur whispers, taking Roy's hand in his and gently brushing a kiss across his knuckles. "I will be happy to wait for such a relationship."

As Roy smiles at him, Kaldur feels for the first time in years that his life is going to be okay.

* * *

Yay for Kaldur week. Our poor Kaldur deserves more. Go to Tumblr and join in.


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